The invention relates to controlling software components in a multi-node processing system.
Software in a computer system may be made up of many layers. The highest layer is usually referred to as the application layer, followed by lower layers that include the operating system, device drivers (which usually are part of the operating system), and other layers. In a system that is coupled to a network, transport and network layers may also be present.
Software components may be installed and loaded as programs in a system. A program is an executable file, and when the program is executed, it is run as a process (e.g., in a UNIX system), a thread (e.g., in a WINDOWS® system), or some other execution unit. During operation of the system, various software components may be started to perform useful tasks.
Software components may be executed on different types of systems, including single processor systems, multiprocessor systems, or multi-node parallel processing systems. Examples of single processor systems include standard desktop or portable systems. A multiprocessor system may include a single node that includes plural processors running in the node. Such systems may include symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) systems. A multi-node parallel processing system may include multiple nodes that may be connected by an interconnect network. Software components may be executed on each of these nodes and run in parallel.
It is not always easy to control (e.g., start up, monitor, or terminate) processes in a multi-node parallel processing system. Because of the distributed nature of a system with multiple nodes, a mechanism may not always be available for control of the software components in the several nodes. Thus, for a parallel software application having software components that can run in a multi-node parallel processing system, a need continues to exist for a convenient and efficient method and apparatus to control software components in the multiple nodes.